From the iconic Bohemian Rhapsody sing-a-long to the Scooby-Doo style end-scene reveal, Wayne’s World is a treasure trove of pop culture references. With its influence still being seen in today, mainly due to the number of phrases it coined – the most famous being “Schwing!” and “Schyeah” But also because of it’s refusal to take itself seriously. Within the comedy genre it stands on its own, for two reasons: the first being that it is a somewhat surreal, nonsensical, totally unique weird-fest. The other is that the humour is not trying to be anything clever and the simplicity of it all is what makes it great. Even the nasally, guffawing voices that Mike Myers and Dana Carvey used for Wayne and Garth are funny in their own right, and serve to make even the most mundane lines funny.

For all its silliness, Wayne’s World is a comedy with heart and in its own haphazard way, teaches an important lesson about friendship and the importance of staying true to who you are. Wayne and Garth are painfully relatable in their desperate desire to be liked and seen as cool, even if it means lying through your teeth. Although Mike Myers is great as Wayne, for me it is Dana Carvey who really stands out. His performance as Garth simultaneously manages to endear you to him and find his actions super embarrassing. A prime example of this is his rendition of Jimi Hendrix’ Foxy Lady (with mimicked fox ears) that he does across a restaurant to an unsuspecting woman. Every time I watch it I kind of want to die inside, but that’s what makes it so good.

There’s what seems like thousands of comedies about mildly tragic teenage boys who want to impress girls and improve their social status, but none of them come close to Wayne’s World in terms of quality – and none have managed to become just as iconic. It could have been all to easy for it to be a forgettable, unfunny mess – but the brilliant script and madcap characters make you forget that in many respects it is pretty formulaic. I have lost count of how many times I’ve watched it, in yet I find it just as funny every single time – a true indicator of a comedy classic.

by Megan Gibb

Megan Gibb is a 19 year old from Cambridge, based in Manchester for university and has been in love with all things film ever since she can remember. Her fave films are The Terminator, Drive, Forrest Gump and Fight Club but she also has a huge soft spot for 1980’s John Hughes films. Her main interests include shopping for vinyl, eating too much carrot cake and making wall collages of 80’s bands for her and her friends. She can be found on twitter @megang96 and blogs atpopdunk.